Hydrocarbon-burner.



G. R. WASSELL.

HYDROGARBON BURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 1, 1912.

1 071 1 17 Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR 25W Z M 9 W I 6 N5 COLUMBIA PLANOCIRAPH co.,wAsHINOTON. 1.1v c.

UNITED STATES CLIFFORD R. WASSELL, 0F. OCEAN SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI.

HYDROCARBON-BURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 1, 1912.

Patented Aug. 26, 1913.

Serial No. 706,959.v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLIFFORD R. VVAssELL, residing at Ocean Springs, in the county of Jackson and State of Mississippi, a citizen of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improve- I ments in HydrocarbonBurners, of which improvements the following is a specification.

My invention relates to hydro-carbon burners which are adapted to burn a combustible mixture consisting of oil vapor and steam, the vaporization of the oil and water being effected by heat from the burner itself as such liquids are fed thereto. Hydro-carbon burners of this class are used in connection with stoves, ranges, and other forms of heaters of which a small amount of heat is required as compared with burners for steam-generating boilers, furnaces, etc.; and is distinct from that class of burners wherein the steam, necessary to form an efiicient and completely combustible mixture, is generated outside of the burner itself.

In the class of burners with which my invention is concerned, considerable difficulty has been experienced in effecting an even and uninterrupted vaporization of both oil and water when the burner construction has been simple enough to be easily applied to existing heaters and cheap enough to find ready sale; and without such a vaporization of the oil and Water such burners are unreliable and do not meet the requirements of service.

The object of my invention therefore is to provide a burner, for the purpose and of the character described, which will, by aneven and uninterrupted vaporization of oil and of water, operate efiiciently and continuously at all working capacities;v which will be simple and cheap in construction; and which may be easily installed in heaters of various forms.

In the accompanying drawing, which forms part of my specification, I have illustrated. the preferred embodiment of my invention as applied to an ordinary cooking stove, adapted originally to burn solid fuel, such as wood or coal, in a fire-box.

In this drawing Figure 1 is a plan view of the burner secured to and supported by an I-member, which comes between and partially supports the lids of such stove ;v Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line IIII, Fig. 1; Fig. 3- is an. enlarged sectional view 1 of the water vaporizer shown in Fig. 2; and ,Fig. 4 is an end View of the regulating {valves In the several figures like numerals are fused to designate like parts.

The general structural features of the burner shown herein consist of a chamber :.1, of a general elongate shape and preferably constructed of ordinary metal pipe-sections and fittings; oil and water supply pipes 2 and 3, respectively, leading into and ;through a portion of such chamber to vaporiizing surfaces, as hereafter explained; and vapor conduits 4c provided at their outer ends with burner jets 5 arranged to direct the flames issuing therefrom upon the chamber 1. The flow of oil and water through the pipes 2 and 3 is controlled by valves 6 and 7 to the end that predetermined and properly related quantities of such liquids may be fed from suitable sources of supply (not shown) to the vaporizing surfaces.

I have found that burners of this character, constructed for the purposes described, have failed on account of their inability to vaporize evenly and without interruption the water and oil fed to them, and more particularly the water.

The quantity of steam required to insure perfect combustion is so small that its production by boiling any appreciable quantity of water within the burner is impossible, owing to the tendency of the water to foam and spread over a large area of vaporizing surface, with a resultant sudden increase of pressure within the burner; Such increased pressure breaks the continuity of the feed of both water and oil and sets up such a violent fluctuation of the flame that the fire is usually extinguished. Attempts have been made to remedy, or rather diminish this trouble, by using an expansion chamber of large cubical capacity, but this has unduly increased the cost of the apparatus and rendered difficult its application to cooking stoves, etc., on account of the limited amount of room available in the fire box.

Another method which has been tried in an effort to overcome the pressure fluctuations is to pack the water vaporizing chamber with asbestos or similar refractory material so as to hold a film of water in positive contact with the hot vaporizing surfaces. This method, when the details are properly worked out, is completely successful so long as. the packing material retains its original physical characteristics, but soon fails on account of the changes induced in the packing by the combined action of heat, water and steam or the presence in the water of any foreign matter or salts. In order to eliminate such uneven vaporization of the water I lead it to the vaporizing surface by means of a capillary tube insulated from the heat of the burner, as by a wrapping of asbestos 8; and I place the open end of such tube in a horizontal plane adjacent to a horizontally disposed vaporizing surface 9, which is preferably concave as shown. A capillary tube is used, rather than a pipe having a larger bore, for the reason that it is characteristic of capillary tubes that a liquid will not flow through them without completely filling them.

As particularly shown in Fig. 3 the open end of the tube 3 is serrated and in such a position with relation to the vaporzing surface 9 that an irregular film of water, by the pressure from the source of supply, continually flows upon the vaporizing surface. By the adhesion of such water to the relatively cool outer wall of the tube 3, and by its cohesion with the water within the tube (such cohesion being exerted through the film of water beneath the end of the tube) a globule is formed having an increasing temperature from its central portion to its outer edge, where it is converted into steam. The water also tends to adhere to the spot upon the vaporizing surface immediately under the tube 3, this spot being always wet and kept below boiling temperature by the stream of water continually flowing thereon. By such a construction I have found that the water, led in a continuous solid stream through the heat insulated tube 3, doesnot become vaporized therein, and is fed evenly upon the vaporizing surface at the end of the tube; whereas, when water is led through tubes that are not capillary, and not heat insulated, vaporization may take place within the tubes and the water fed unevenly upon the vaporizing surface, even though uniformly supplied to the cool end of such tubes. Such irregularity in the feed to the vaporizing surfaces will necessarily vary the area of active vaporization and the rate at which steam is generated. Furthermore, I have found that at all working capacities of my burner there is no sputtering or foaming of the globule formed at the end of the tube 8, but that an even vaporization always takes place at its outer edge, as indicated in Fig. 3. It will be understood that the globule is very small, but varies in size accord ing to the capacity at which the burner is working.

To the end that the tube 3 may bear lightly upon the surface 9, I prefer to provide a section of tubing 10 of larger diameter than the tube 3, and counterbore such tube as shown so that it will telescope over the tube 3, fitting neatly around it. It will readily be seen that this construction will take care of any slight variation in the relative positions of the tube 3 and the vaporizing surface 9.

The difliculty of producing an even vaporization of oil is much less than the difficulty encountered in attaining the same result with water. This is due to the slight cohesive and strong adhesive properties of oil as compared with the like properties of water, and to the tendency of oil to spread itself in a thin film over the vaporizing surface to which it is led. Nevertheless, some trouble has heretofore been experienced in securing an even vaporization of oil, and this has been due in a great measure to excessive heating of the oil before delivery upon its intended vaporization surfaces. The formation of vapor within the oil conducting tubes displaces oil from such tubes and results in the irregular expelling of a variable quantity of oil upon the hot vaporizing surface, even though the feed of oil to the cool end of such conducting tubes be perfectly uniform. The production of vapor is irregular as a result, and to reduce this irregularity some inventors have used a sponge of asbestos, etc., through which the oil is fed to or upon the hot vaporizing surfaces. I have found that, by leading the oil to the vaporizing surface by means of a capillary tube 2 and by protecting such tube with a covering of asbestos or like insulating material, no vaporization will occur within this tube, and that the oil will be uniformly fed upon the vaporizing surface at a rate depending upon the adjustment of the controlling valve. It will be understood that the flow of oil is compartively rapid through the small bore of the tube 2, and that as a result the cool oil from the source of supply readily absorbs any small amount of heat which may be transmitted to the tube by the asbestos packing, the outside diameter of the tube being so small that a very small area is presented for the absorption of heat either by conduction through the asbestos, or radiation from the walls of the chamber 1. It will also be noticed that as the oil does not vaporize within this conducting tube, there is no liability of stoppage of the same by the deposit of carbon or solid matter present in the oil, and that by the construction shown the vaporizing surfaces themselves are readily accessible for cleaning, by the removal of the plugs shown.

A burner of the character under consideration requires a very small supply of oil, especially when burning at a low heating capacity. Such a supply would not maintain a continuous stream upon the va porizing surface from the open end of the tube 2 if there were an appreciable gap between such tube and surface, but would fall upon the vaporizing surface in a succession of drops, and result in a pulsation of the flame due to the increased pressure within the burner at the instant-of vaporization of each drop. To prevent this I bring the end of the tube 2 within such close proximity to the vaporizing surface, which surface in this disclosure is the area of the chamher 1 adjacent to the end of the tube 2, that a single drop of oil will span the gap between them, thereby insuring a steady and continuous flow of oil to such surface.

The chamber 1, besides being a vaporizing chamber for both oil and water, is also a mixing chamber. That is, the oil vapor and steam, formed evenly within the chamber, become mixed therein and flow through the vapor conduits 4, becoming additionally heated or super-heated in such conduits. To retain the vapors within the lower partof the said chamber 1, and also to additionally insulate the capillary tubes 2 and 3, I provide a packing 12 of heat insulating material in the upper portion of such chamber. This packing may also be arranged to hold the said tubesin their proper positions within the chamber.

When the burner, constructed as shown herein, is placed in the fire box of an ordinary cooking range originally intended to burn solid fuel, such as coal or wood, the flame, when the burner is being operated at its highest capacity, completely fills the fire box, and the vaporizing surfaces are readily heated. In order to provide a positive means of supplying heat to the water vaporizer when the burner is so regulated, as to produce a small flame which will not fill the fire box, I provide a heat-conductor 18, preferably in the form of a bar, connected at one end to the plug 11, and having an upturned end 19 extending to a position in front of the jets 5 wherein it will be exposed to the flame. This heat conductor will transmit to the water vaporizer a comparatively large proportion of the heat from a small flame as its flaring end will have practically the same area as the cross section of a small flame. The amount of heat trans mitted to the water vaporizer may also be limited by reducing the cross section of the metal of the conductor.

It is quite necessary, to the successful operation of such a burner, that the proper relative proportions of oil and water fed to the burner be continuously maintained. The regulating means shown herein consist, as heretofore stated, of needle valves 6 and 7 The manipulating handles 13 of the valves are provided with numbered marks, so arranged that when like numbers on each valve register with indicator arms 14 the proper burning proportions of oil and water will be fed to their respective vaporizing surfaces. In order to compensate for wear in the valves, the arms 121 may be rigidly secured to collars 15, rotatable upon the valve casings, there being sufficient frictional contact bet-ween the collars 15 and the said valve casings to prevent the rotation of the collars upon such casings except when projections 17 placed at the zero point of the handles 13, come in contact with the arms 14, as shown particularly in Fig. 4;. It will be readily seen that, as the valve seats wear away, and the closed positions of the valve stems advance, the arms 14 will be caused to advance by each closing of the valve.

Any suitable and well known means may be provided to insure either constant pressure of the oil and water supply, or diminishing pressures of a constant relative proportion, to the end that the proportions of oil and water fed to the burner may not vary.

The operation of the burner is, for the most part, apparent from the foregoing description. In starting the burner a suitable receptacle (not shown) may be placed below the chamber 1 and a small quantity of oil burned therein, until the vaporizing surfaces within such chamber are sufficiently heated to vaporize the oil and water led thereto. The burner will then operate independently of any auxiliary heater until the supply of oil and water is shut off.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a hydro-carbon burner, the combination of a chamber having a vaporizing surface therein, a capillary-tube oil-supply pipe extending into the said chamber and terminating adjacent to said vaporizing surface, whereby the oil in liquid form is led in an even and uninterrupted stream through such pipe and upon such surface, the said tube being insulated from the heat of the said burner, and means for vaporizing water within said chamber and by the heat of said burner.

2. In a hydrocarbon burner, the combination of a vaporizing and mixing chamber, a capillary-tube oil-supply pipe extending into the said chamber and insulated from the heat thereof, the outlet of the said tube be ing adjacent to a vaporizing area of the wall of such chamber so that the oil flows in an even and uninterrupted liquid stream through the tube within the chamber and upon said area of such chamber wall, a burner jet supplying heat to the wall of the said chamber and having fuel supply communication with the chamber, and means for vaporizing water within said chamber by the heat of said burner.

3. In a hydro-carbon burner, the combination of a vaporizing chamber having a vaporizing surface therein, a burner jet having fluid communication with said chamber and supplying heat to said vaporizing surface, and a heat insulated capillary-tube liquid supply pipe extending through the said chamber to the said surface and effective to conduct a liquid to and upon said surface in an even and uninterrupted stream.

4.- In a hydro-carbon burner, the combination With an oil-vaporizer, and a burner jet affording heat thereto; of a Water-vaporizer consisting of a chamber, a horizontally disposed concave vaporizing surface therein and receiving heat from the said burner, and a heat insulated capillary tube extending through the said chamber to the lowermost portion of the said concave surface.

5. In a hydro-carbon burner the combination of a chamber, a horizontally disposed Water-vaporizing surface therein, a capillary tube Water supply pipe extending through said chamber to said surface and effective to lead a continuous and uninterrupted stream of Water thereto, and means for vaporizing oil.

6. In a hydro-carbon burner, the combination of an extended vaporizing and mixing chamber, a vapor conduit extended from said chamber and having a burner jet at the end thereof in a position to supply heat to said chamber, an oil-supply capillary tube extending to the more heated portion of the said chamber, a Water-supply capillary tube extending to a less heated portion of the said chamber, and oil and Water Vaporizers Within the said chamber at the ends of the said tubes.

7. In a hydro-carbon burner, the combination of a chamber having oil and Water vaporizing surfaces therein, a burner jet having communication With the said chamber and effective to supply heat directly to said surfaces When operating at high capacity, a heat conductor extending from a position in the path of a flame issuing from said jet to said Water vaporizing surface, said heat conductor being efiective to transmit a relatively larger amount of heat to said Water vaporizing surface When said burner is operating at low capacity than When operating at high capacity.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

PAUL N. CRITOHLOW, ALICE A. TRILL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). C. 

